Kimi Raikkonen: “Hopefully we can have a good weekend”

Kimi Raikkonen does not know who will be competitive this weekend at the Circuit of the Americas as round eighteen of the 2016 Formula 1 season gets underway on Friday.

The Scuderia Ferrari driver is hopeful his team can have a good weekend, and will be attacking the United States Grand Prix weekend like any other at a track and a venue he enjoys visiting.

“I like the race in Austin: it’s a nice town and people are very polite,” said Raikkonen. “I think it’s good for F1 and for Ferrari that we come to the US, and hopefully we can have a good weekend.

“But it’s hard to say who is going to be the fastest here and what we are going to get on Sunday. Tomorrow we’ll start as any other race weekend, doing our things and we’ll see where we are.

“The circuit is interesting, quite a new one and the design is nice. Usually there’s quite a good racing here, which is good for us as drivers and also for the spectators. Last year it was a pity for the weather conditions, this year it looks ok so let’s see what happens.”

Raikkonen feels the team are still improving despite another race in Japan without a podium, but feels the team are working the right way to address the lack of podiums and wins.

“We keep working all the time and obviously in some races we have been strong and in others not as strong as we hoped,” said Raikkonen. “We are doing things right and we are improving, but we still have a lot of work to do, it’s a never-ending work in progress.

“Last race was good but did not give us the result we should have got, so we are there to try again.”